O'Donnell comes to Washington

Christine O'Donnell, the surprise victor of Delaware's GOP Senate primary, met with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) Wednesday for the first time since beating the GOP establishment candidate Mike Castle last month.

The meeting represents the uncomfortable embrace Washington Republicans must deal with now in the Delaware Senate race after vigorously backing O'Donnell's opponent, Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in the primary last month. Since her upset victory, O'Donnell has become a media sensation, making headlines for everything from her past comments on masturbation to her dabbling with witchcraft when she was young.

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But now the Republican establishment says it's firmly behind her and will offer O'Donnell fund-raising help and strategy advice.

"Sen. Cornyn reaffirmed his commitment to working with her campaign — as we do with all of our campaigns — and a senior staff member will be up in Delaware tomorrow to sit down with her campaign staff to discuss strategy for the next three and a half weeks," an NRSC aide said.

O'Donnell, whose tea party support and endorsement from Sarah Palin was critical, initially received a much cooler welcome at first from the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, especially in comparison to fellow grass-roots winner Joe Miller in Alaska.

The meeting between O'Donnell and the NRSC's top brass came on a day when two new polls revealed she is trailing Democrat Chris Coons by double digits in her bid to take the seat of Vice President Joe Biden.

Winning Biden's seat in Delaware once was viewed by Republicans as key in trying to win back a majority of seats in the Senate, but when Castle — who had led Coons by double-digits according to several polls heading into September's primary — was defeated, the Republican's calculus to win back the upper chamber became much more complicated.